Monday, November 1, 2010

If you've been watching TCM, you've probably seen the promos for the new seven-part documentary, Moguls and Movie Stars. The first part, "Peepshow Pioneers", is airing tonight at 8:00 PM ET, with a repeat at 11:00, and two more repeats on Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon.

In and of itself, the series sounds interesting, and I'll certainly be watching. However, TCM has also been advertising that many of the films mentioned in the documentary will also be part of the TCM schedule, and tonight's lineup is certainly evidence of that. TCM's schedule has two hours of Thomas Edison shorts at 9:00 PM, two hours of DW Griffith's work at Biograph Pictures around midnight, and two hours of Georges Meliès around 2:00 AM. The last two times are approximate; TCM's on-line schedule lists the times as being just after midnight and 2:00 AM, while the printed schedule lists the Griffith pictures as a single 123-minute feature beginning at midnight, which would obviously push the start time of the Meliès pictures past 2:00 AM. Finally, there's "Silent Shakespeare", a compilation of short silent film versions of Shakespeare's plays, at 4:00 AM.